By Bryan
Chaney
The line between sourcing and recruiting has become
increasingly blurred. Where does one process stop and the other begin? I’ve
worked for organizations that have separated the function into completely
different teams. The line was the point of application. Everything before it
belonged to the sourcers. Everything after, the recruiters owned. But more and
more recruiters are being tasked with candidate research.
With the adoption of social recruiting and its
brand exposure, the impact of sourcing on talent acquisition has been thrust
into the spotlight. And to understand where we’re going, we need to understand
our past.
First, we’ll hop in the way-back machine, to look
at the “old school” version of sourcing and candidate research. Since I’ve only been in
the recruiting field for 9 years, I didn‘t experience the “big binders full of
candidates” era.
I‘ve always associated sourcing with lead
generation. It’s prospecting for companies and/or people that fit targeted
qualifications. In the world of sales, it would be companies with specific
products, or a particular number of employees. Many times but not always, with
operations in targeted geographies. The sales person had to manage the process
from start to finish. Very similar to sales, the recruiter would manage the
entire process, or full life-cycle recruiting.
Within the last few years, market and business
development roles have separated from the typical sales role. It’s the
difference between inbound and outbound sales calls, and takes a very different
approach as well as alternate personality characteristics of the people doing
the work. Some call it the separation between hunting and farming tactics,
because it takes more curiosity and initiative to stalk your “prey.” I’m sure
we’re all comfortable with that analogy like we‘re comfy with a restraining
order.
![]() |
Previously, lead generation or lead sourcing job
titles were listed as “Inside Sales” or something similar, because these people
were rarely, if ever seen face-to-face by the company’s prospects and clients.
Cue the stereotype of sourcers as low-level recruiters.
As the spread of information and contact details
increased and sales cycles got more complex, the need for a specialized
business development approach was needed. Binders and Rolodex spinners gave way
to Excel spreadsheets, which gave way to corporate databases. Ultimately, the
data found its way into more user-friendly CRMs or Customer Relationship
Management systems. The same is true of the divergence between recruiting and
sourcing.
“It is not the reactive function of reviewing
resumes and applications sent to the company in response to a job posting or
pre-screening candidates.”
A recruiter’s job used to be the management of
inbound candidates. Whether it was office or retail foot traffic, mailed
resumes, or (gasp) faxed resumes and cover letters. The reason? Research was easier. Job requirements were
simpler. Personalities were very different for successful sourcing than they
were for engagement and assessment.
Then we got fancy. Our targets got more refined
and niche candidate generation started becoming the name of the game.
Researchers scoured printed lists and telephone directories, looking for the
right contacts to hand over, for the recruiters to contact.
“The goal of sourcing is to collect relevant data
about qualified candidates, such as names, titles and job responsibilities.”
Hello, internet.
Over the last 20 years, we’ve been inundated with
sources of online information. At first it was simple to search, but with
burgeoning data, comes the need for more complex searching skills. More
sophisticated search skills, means a more sophisticated sourcer.
Next up, part 2. Sourcing: What It Is
About Bryan
Chaney: Bryan Chaney is a Talent Branding and Attraction
Strategist. He most recently led employment branding and social media for
corporate recruitment at Aon. Previously, he developed the recruitment
marketing arm of a Texas based RPO provider that serves SMB and Fortune
clients. He serves on the board of Social Media Breakfast in Austin and founded
careerconnects.org, a community event platform, to gather niche recruiting and
HR professionals with candidates to share career strategies. The Huffington
Post recently named him one of the Top 100 Most Social HR Experts on Twitter.
Connect with Bryan for consulting and speaking availability at Bryan Chaney.
Fri and Sat are primarily food based - and bloody hell the produce is good. It's a bit like a mini Borough Market! You can get your mitts on delicious cheese, fresh breads, cakes and pastries, outstanding butcher meats, olives and oils, fish, incredible pies, organic vegetables and dried foods. The stalls and faces tend to be the same most months, and a lot of these are run by local businesses. recruitment training
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing this article in terms readers can actually understand. This topic can be confusing, but you made it so clear that I am glad I landed here. enter here for mor of Johnny Rapid
ReplyDeleteOmega is an affluence watchmaker based out of
ReplyDeletelouis vuitton replica Switzerland whose on the internet autograph are world-renowned for their adorableness and aloft top quality. Founded at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland in 1848 by Louis Brandt, Omega is beat by abounding of the lot of replica shoes affecting humans today. Presidents, actors and acclimatized icons are consistently aboveboard adorning their wrists with Omega watches. Louis Brandt initially bought places for gucci replica his key-wound assimilation abridged Replique Montre Rolex from belted craftsman. Afterwards his death, yet, his two sons acquainted a centralized adeptness action would after-effects academy aloft merchandise. This would serve as the alpha of Omega’s prominence. It was abandoned a abbreviate accumulated of time afterwards that the action became an industry regular.Each of Brandt’s sons, Louis-Paul and C?sar, anesthetized abroad in 1903 bequeathing their dior replica advantage to four youths (the oldest accepting 23). At this time, 240,000 watches had been produced celebration year by a agents of 800. The new owners, accepting their youth, affiliated to acclamation the accession and by the seventies, it had about-face into the third abettor of able watches aural the angel (and accumulated one accurate in Switzerland). Sad to say, Omega faced acerbic cyberbanking challenges throughout the bread-and-butter recession amidst 1975 and 1980 and had to become bailed out in 1981. There were talks of a abeyant get out from Seiko, a advancing watch manufacturer, but abolishment came to fruition. Rather, afterwards years of cyberbanking restructuring and accession mergers, the Swatch Group was formed in 1998 and is now the sole artisan of
http://www.enjoywarwickshire.co.uk and added watch brands.
So, you try to power nourish your redundancy to be able to obtain position without dropping people entirely in the procedure. Think "Family Feud" where the aggressive near relatives is known as Dawson. righting our consent
ReplyDelete